Tristan's Return
by Anily AKW-DPP
Summary: after Eliza's Life. now, Tristan is freebut will he live long enough to reach Earth again?


disclaimer:any characters made by K.A., i do not own.

free or die. free or die. free or die... i repeated over and over again.

give up human. Earth may have won but, you're still under the Yeerk Empire. my Yeerk, Innis 102 gloated.

never will i give up!

should i give you to a lower Yeerk? you are in your forties...no, i'll keep you. you can morph, after all. Innis said.

die, Yeerk! i yelled.

do i have to show you your fears again? yes? oh well...

FLASH!

Eliza and i listened as our parents told us about the invasion.

"i'm going insane. there's no such thing as Yeerks. actually, Father, Mom, i think you need to go to the doctor." i muttered when they had finished.

Tristan, there are Yeerks. just don't join the Sharing, is all your Mom and i want. you two can be normal, don't have to fight them. just promise us, you won't join the Sharing. a voice ordered, in my head.

"what was that?" Eliza asked.

"thought-speak. your Father is a human Nothlit-he was an Andalite, then stayed in human morph over two hours." Mom answered. "just, stay out of the Sharing."

"wait. Mom, Father, we want to fight." Eliza and i replied in union.

one of the biggest mistakes in my life.

FLASH!

die Yeerk! i shouted, ignoring the flashback.

another human Controller walked up to me/Innis. "the Council wants you to go on a mission on Earth, Visser Five."

Innis nodded. "you may leave, Tamarah 308."

Tamarah gave a slight nod and left my/Innis' quarters.

Earth? where the so called 'Andalite Bandits' defeated the 'mighty' Yeerk Empire? i teased. the Council wants to send you back to where the Empire lost to six humans and an Andalite cadet?

quiet, human.

i have a name you know-it's Tristan, not human.

daspen you. Innis started to curse me.

so what? i'm already cursed-by having a dumb Yeerk for a master.

he didn't respond. instead, he went to the Yeerk Pool.

just great. a few minutes to try to escape.

**cage in Yeerk Pool/blade-ship  
**

'come on, Tristan-think up a crazy plan that will just get you into a even more difficult cage to escape and a very angry Yeerk.' i thought.

MORPH A FLEA OR SOMETHING, TRISTAN. COME ON, JUST MORPH SOMETHING SMALL ENOUGH TO GO THROUGH THE BARS. MORPH, YOU IDIOT! a male voice suggested.

"who?" i whispered, staring around me. i was the only thing moving in the entire Yeerk Pool!

a young, blue, man appeared. "Omar's my name. an Ellimist, if you prefer." he said.

"Ellimist?!"

"not the one your parents knew nor the one that helped the Animorphs at certain points. jeez, whenever we show up, people think we're Toomin, the Ellimist the Animorphs' knew! what's wrong with you people?!" he replied. "listen, i'm giving you a chance to escape. morph something small already!"

i shrugged and morphed a harpy eagle i had acquired before i joined the Sharing. i bird-walked through the bars and demorphed outside the cage.

"now that you're free, go steal a bug-fighter or blade-ship as long as you can escape, for goodness sake!" Omar ordered.

i ran to my/Innis' blade-ship. when i entered it, Omar was waiting for me.

"took ya long enough. do you know how to fly this thing?" he muttered, leaning against a wall.

"yeah, what do you think when my Yeerk owns and flies this ship?" i mumbled, as i started the ship. 'this is too easy,' i thought as i got the ship flying.

"may be so, but hey, you're out, aren't ya?" Omar stated.

we flew on, silently, for a while.

a female, blue and about the same psychical age as Omar appeared. "there you are, Bro. can you get this to Earth by tomorrow? Ani, Anda, F. One through Five are in F. One' and Two's home. we just need you-know-who there and the group will be complete. oh, and for a bonus, Alex M., Faith, Star, and Sun are there also." she walked over next to Omar.

"major family reunion, Gen. you got all of them there by yourself?" Omar seemed surprised but showed no emotion.

"wait... Toomin helped me get Ani, Anda, and F. One through Four. i got F. Five, Alex, Faith, Star, and Sun. oh, um... the parents of Ani are the also." Gen answered.

"talk about a full h-" Omar started.

"um... they moved to F. Three's old meadow now." Gen interrupted.

"so, how many people are there, talking together, in F. Three's old meadow?"

"um..." Gen paused for a moment. "twenty-six since Aximili's parents aren't coming. i think."

"it is twenty-six. for once, you got a math question correct!" Omar joked-at least, i think he was joking.

Gen frowned. "oh yeah? since when did you ever get ANY question correct?"

"oh you little..."

"little what? witch? hey, i'm F. Five's 'guardian', remember? i act like her, and vice versa. and you may be Tristan's 'guardian' but you two are exact opposites."

"don't make me do it..."

"go ahead."

"then Tristan will never get to Earth."

"well... they want him there... mostly F. Five since she remembers him most... never mind then."

i smirked, remembering how Eliza and i used to fight like that.

i guess they saw me smirk, 'cause Gen spoke to me.

"what are you laughing at?" she asked.

"a memory, that's all." i replied.

"he's comparing us to him and F. Five." Omar explained. "never knew Ellimists could mind-read with the person or people their connected with, did you?"

"how am i supposed to know if you two are the first Ellimists i ever saw/met?" i said as we entered z-space.

"humor. something you'll never have," Gen stated to Omar.

"what is it with you two? you're acting like the Animorphs Rachel and Marco!" i quoted.

they shrugged.

we didn't speak for a while.

"who's Alex M.? i think i knew someone with the first name Alex and the last name starting with 'm'." i tried to start some chat between us three.

"full name's Alexander Mick. he's married to 'Ella Lourdes'." Omar made quotations with his hands as he said 'Ella Lourdes'.

"Ella Lourdes who never existed until April 12th, 1989. there's no record on her before that. no birth papers, parents, family, zilch." Gen muttered.

i shivered when she said 'April 12th, 1989'. it was the day my sister died. Eliza had attacked the Yeerk Pool that day and i was there. i know she died 'cause i was the one who killed her. she didn't know it was me since i had blood covering my entire body. but it wasn't me who killed her. not really. it wasn't me. it wasn't me. it. wasn't. me.

i felt a hand on my shoulder. "Gen and i know it wasn't you. Innis made you kill her using your body." Omar comforted.

"at least you're free from the Yeerks. now Innis can't make you do something you don't like since you escaped." Gen stated.

"'free or die' as the Hork-Bajir say." both Ellimist quoted in unison.

i smiled at them. "free or die."

**Earth, the next day. third person narrator.  
**

RETURN TO TOBIAS' OLD MEADOW, NOW! Gen and Toomin yelled at the Animorphs, Andamorphs, the Animorphs' parents, Alex M., Faith, Star, Sun, and Eliza.

"why? everyone asked them.

JUST GO! was the only reply.

everyone ran/flew to the meadow before Toomin and Gen could do who-knows-what to them.

they waited there, wondering why Gen and Toomin ordered them to be there. what they saw, could have made them all want to die at first.

a blade-ship landed harshly on the grass, smoke coming from it as if it was in battle.

"what? a remake of the night we met Elfangor except with the Yeerks are the ones who crash-land?" Marco half joked.

no one told him to stop making lame jokes-everyone kept their eyes on the fallen blade-ship.

the blade-ship had been in battle-but not with the Andalites as they had thought...

**normal space, before landing on Earth or day before section above  
**

"name your reason for leaving, Innis one-oh-two!" Genia 693/Sub-Visser Forty demanded.

Gen and Omar were hiding from Genia's sight, not wanting to be seen by Yeerks.

"i am not Innis one-zero-two, Genia six-nine-three. i am his host, Tristan. Innis one-zero-two, was feeding when i had escaped." Tristan stated.

the Sub-Visser turned to her crew. "fire all dracons on that blade-ship! Visser Five's host has escaped and is on it!"

there was a series of 'yes, Sub-Visser's as the crew aimed all the weapons at Tristan and the two Ellimists.

"fire!" Sub-Visser Forty ordered.

Tristan had also aimed all weapons at the enemies' ship, and had fired at the same time as Sub-Visser's crew had.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

both ships lost both engines in the blast.

with Tristan out cold, Gen gone to Earth again, and Omar unable to help, their ship plummeted towards Earth as the Sub-Visser's entered z-space.

**Tobias' old meadow, again  
**

the group of twenty-six humans and Andalites didn't move from their places in the meadow. they stood, wide-eyed, and mouths hanging open if they had mouths.

the hatch/door of the blade-ship opened slowly, creaking as it did. two figures appeared, one leaning on the other.

Gen and Toomin appeared, smiling at the group and blade-ship.

Eliza nearly fainted when she saw who the leaning figure was. "Tristan?" she whispered. she was as pale as if she had just seen a ghost-and in a way, she did.

the forty-two year-old male didn't reply.

but the figure Tristan was leaning on did. "he's free of Innis one-zero-two, a.k.a. Visser Five. the Yeerks, they found us and attacked. he nearly died..."

Eliza ran up to her brother and helped the figure carry him to the others. "is he hurt?" she wondered as she slipped Tristan's arm around her.

"wounded, yes. dieing, no. he can morph out of it when he comes to." the figure answered.

when they placed Tristan on the ground, Jake spoke.

"how do we know you're not tricking us to believe you're not one of the escaped Yeerks?" Jake demanded.

the figure realized that he either was or Toomin made him appear human-fully human, not what he really was. "because," the figure became blue. "Ellimists can't become Controllers." the figure, Omar, joined Gen and Toomin. "you," he pointed at Gen. "why did you leave us to crash-land?"

"then, Eliza, Faith, Star, Sun, and Alex wouldn't be here when you did." Gen explained.

the group ignored the fighting Gen and Omar were starting with Ellimist trying to stop them.

Cassie sat next to Eliza and Tristan. "let me see the wound,"

Eliza moved aside, exposing the wound.

it was a long, straight, cut that went down the side of Tristan's leg. when Cassie turned to see the damage, she saw another wound. this one was more like a burn, that covered

part of Tristan's lower arm and hand.

"i think i may puke," Lyzah muttered when she saw the second wound.

Cassie lifted Tristan's arm, observing the burn. "dracon. entire hand and half of his lower arm got burnt by it. the first wound is something i can't tell. straight cut down his leg-not very deep though." she turned to Eliza. "i'm gonna morph Yeerk and try to get him to morph, okay?"

Eliza nodded. "as long as he gets better."

Cassie morphed quickly and entered Tristan.

**literally in Tristan's head  
**

when Cassie had entered, she saw a memory that was being played.

it was in Tristan's eyes, of course. he was in a Yeerk Pool, talking with some other human Controllers.

filth. go back to your own planet. a female voice said. a female Andalite appeared in Tristan's sight and started to attack.

it happened so quickly. in a few minutes, everything was a dark red and dead humans lay everywhere. no living creature left-all the humans, Yeerks, etc. were dead.

the Andalite breathed hard as she glanced at her surroundings.

Tristan stood, clutching the dracon in his hand. his face covered in blood, but he could see. the Andalite walked up to him. "Andalite Bandit." Innis 102 said in disgust.

but Tristan was yelling 'Eliza', and thankfully, Innis didn't hear.

the Andalite nodded. kill me.

Innis replied, "my pleasure. see you in hell." he placed the dracon-on level six, the highest setting-on the Andalite's forehead and fired.

there was a blast as the Andalite fell and Tristan was thrown to a wall.

i am the servant of my people. i am the servant of my prince. i am the servant of honor. my life is not my own, when the People have need of it. my life is given for the People, for my prince, and for my honor the Andalite muttered the Andalite ritual of Death, before she had hit the ground.

"no... i killed her..." Tristan whispered in the few seconds he was in control.

Cassie would have been wide-eyed and mouth open if she was human.

dead... i was the one who had killed Eliza Lyann-Terri Fangor. Innis had made me kill my sister, my twin... a male voice stated.

Cassie nearly yelled. then, she remembered she was in Tristan's head.

who's there? Tristan demanded. why can't i move? no! get out of my head, you Yeerk filth! he started to curse, thinking he was under control of Innis 102 again.

i'm not a Yeerk! i'm an Animorph in a Yeerk morph, who was trying to get you to morph before you died of your wound! Cassie exclaimed.

Tristan didn't speak for a while. i killed her, Cassie. i killed Eliza...

Cassie was shocked that he knew her name. you didn't-it was Innis.

who cares if it was me or Innis?! she's dead! Tristan yelled.

i think you may reconsider once you're healed. Cassie started to make him morph the harpy eagle and demorph quickly, healing his wounds.

**meadow. no more inside some one's head!  
**

Cassie exited Tristan's head and demorphed.

Tristan sat up, rubbing his temples. his wounds were gone, so he wasn't yelling in pain. "what happened?" he asked, mostly to Omar who was still fighting with Gen.

"long story short, you crash-landed here after you and the Sub-Visser Forty ship blasted each others' engines off." Toomin explained.

"Sub-Visser Forty?" Tristan repeated.

"Genia six-nine-three, in other words." Omar said.

"what are you three?" Tristan pointed at the Ellimists.

"stop playin' dumb, Tristan. we're Ellimists, remember?" Gen stated.

"Ellimists?" Tristan echoed.

"um... guys? i think he doesn't remember anything about Ellimists, Yeerks, Andalites, etc." Tobias quoted. "probably only knows what normal humans should. before the war was know, anyway."

and to prove that... "Andalites? Yeerks? what are you people, insane?"

"exactly what i thought at first." Marco mumbled.

"yeah. before you actually morphed." Rachel countered.

Jake faced their parents and children. "you can leave if you want-who knows how long this will take,"

the parents agreed and left except Elfangor and Loren. the Andamorphs decided to stay.

"who are you crazy people?!" Tristan demanded.

Eliza held him in front of her so she could see eye to eye with him. "Tristan, don't you remember me? or Mom and Father? or even what Father is?" she persisted, searching into his eyes. "or Yeerks, Andalites, or Ellimists?"

"what?!" Tristan pushed his twin away from him.

"i'll get Tom and see if this has ever happened with any Controllers before." Rachel morphed bald eagle and left to get Tom in the Hork-Bajir Valley.

Lyzah stared at her elder brother. 'great. when i first meet him, he forgets everything about the war!' she sat down in the grass. she sighed. 'to bad i can't do that mind-meld thing.'

Tristarn...you should be able to remember at least the Yeerks since you had one in your head. Elfangor-the War-Prince- recalled.

Tristan looked a bit spaced out for a while. "Tristarn-Tristan-Connor,"

Loren-the one that's married- nodded. "your Andalite name."

a bald eagle and a falcon landed. Tom and Rachel demorphed quickly.

when Tom saw Tristan, his eyes opened wide. "Visser Five." he looked like he was about to attack Tristan.

"don't!" Lyzah yelled, speaking for the first time. "Innis one-zero-two isn't in him! it's just his host, my brother! he barely remembers the Yeerks! that's why we needed you here-not to kill him!"

Tom calmed down. "doesn't remember? who could forget? having another being in your head who knows everything you ever did and everything you're thinking? not being able to chose when to even blink? being forced to kill people who just wanted to fit in? killing your family, friends, or someone else you knew? being a puppet? i can't forget it even if i tried!"

Tristan seemed to be in another trance. "Eliza..."

"what about me?" Eliza wondered.

Tristan turned to her. "i was the one who killed you on April 12th, 1989..." he stated, as if she wasn't the real one who he was talking to, before he fainted.

**hotel room**

Eliza sat next to Tristan, who was still unconscious. "how could he be the one who 'killed' me in the Yeerk Pool?"

Eliza, Tristan, the Animorphs, Alex, Faith, Star, and Sun were in the hotel room Eliza had rented.

"i think i can explain..." Cassie whispered.

everyone stared at Cassie, except Alex, Faith, Star-who had no idea what they were talking about-and Sun-who was a newborn, only old enough to crawl.

"when i entered his head, he was seeing a memory of when he was in the Yeerk Pool. when Eliza had saw what she had did, she had walked up to a Controller, correct?" Cassie glanced at Eliza, who nodded. "well, that was Tristan. he had blood on his face so you didn't think it was him. you asked him to kill you, and, well, Innis did that for you-sort of."

Eliza stared at Tristan. "maybe that's why he didn't remember- because he didn't want to remember when he 'killed' me or the other horrible moments." she held his hand in hers, and she began to cry.

Sun crawled to her and tried to see who was in the bed. she tugged on Eliza's pant leg, trying to get her attention.

Eliza smiled and placed Sun in her lap, so she could see Tristan. she fought back the tears from falling down her face again.

Sun leaned over and touched Tristan's hand. she cooed... then fell onto Tristan.

Tristan coughed, as the child landed on his chest. "hey!" he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, which was hard, considering he had a baby on him.

everyone laughed, even Tristan.

"here," Eliza placed Sun on her lap again.

"Eliza!" Tristan nearly yelled, when he saw her.

"who else would it be?" she asked.

"i don't know. probably didn't think it was you, 'cause, let me see... 'cause i shot you with a dracon beam on the highest setting!" he stated. "right on the forehead, to be exact!"

"hey! it wasn't my fault that you/Innis shot me!"

"then, who's was it?!"

"i don't know... you!"

"how is it my fault?!"

"um... 'cause you joined the Sharing in the first place when Mom and Father asked just that we didn't!"

"how could i know that i was gonna become a slave in my own body?!"

"uh, 'cause Mom and Father told us!"

"hey, i had the right to think they were lying!"

"but you accepted the power to morph anyway!"

"i thought it was a trick of theirs! we were only ten at the time-we believed nearly anything they said!"

Faith grabbed Sun then before she could become any defer.

"worse than when Gen and Omar fought in the meadow, huh?" Jake whispered to Marco.

"thousand times worse." Marco agreed.

"millions." Lyzah answered.

Tobias nodded. "just be glad that you're not a hawk when this and when Gen and Omar were/are fighting-before you know it, you'll be def."

"same thing with Sun-she nearly became def since she was sitting right between the two!" Cassie said.

Rachel gave a slight nod. "i wonder how they ever got along with each other,"

"because you joined, i ended up fighting another abomination-you!" Eliza shouted.

"well, you were the one who asked Mom and Father why they were acting strange around Chapman!" Tristan yelled back.

"hey! we're in a hotel, not the woods! we'll be kicked out if you two don't stop fighting!" Alex stated, speaking for the first time.

they settled quickly. they did decide to stop yelling at each other, but did not agree to talk to each other again.

like Rachel and Marco, correct? Aximili wondered.

"yup." Lyzah agreed.

"hey! how come you always stab me!?" was Marco's respond. "and you're my wife, for goodness sake!"

(i have a right to do that, don't i?) she said in her thought/mind voice.

"not literally," Faith stated.

(of course i wouldn't actually kill Marco!) she replied so everyone in the room could hear. then, excluding Marco, (even the annoying joker he is,) that got a laugh out of everyone, except Aximili, who didn't understand, and Marco, who didn't even hear it.

"so...now we have this family brought back together, do all of you have to stay here? it's really crowded," surprisingly, it was Star who had spoke.

"so says the girl named after a bunch of gas compressed together," Marco joked.

lucky for him, Star wasn't the type to fight-she just stared at him coldly. "put on a polo shirt then you're Marco Polo!"

(exactly what i said when he asked me if he was Marco Polo when we were married. i said, 'only if you're wearing a polo shirt, then you're Marco wearing Polo'.) Lyzah quoted, so only Star could hear.

"change that-then you're Marco wearing Polo," Star repeated, trying not to laugh.

"great! more people trying to stab/kill me! first Xena, then Gabriela-now Buffy!" Marco exclaimed.

"i guess we could leave-it is crowded here. plus, i don't want a fight with Rachel, Lyzah, and Star v.s. Marco," Jake said.

Rachel, Lyzah, and Star smirked.

"well," Rachel and Lyzah started in unison.

"now that you mentioned it," Star finished.

"that's it! i'm out of here!" Marco quickly morphed osprey and headed out the open window.

"great-forgot that he could morph also." Rachel muttered, as she and Lyzah morphed birds of prey and followed Marco out the window.

"good thing i can morph also-don't want them to have all the fun," Star morphed a marsh hawk and joined the chase.

everyone else laughed as they heard the girls and Marco say threats to each other.

thanks a lot, Jake! Marco shouted.

"my pleasure!" Jake responded.

they laughed for a while longer, and waited the four to enter again.


End file.
